Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/80

 20 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI and offered himself as a vassal, but refused to have anything to do with Casquin, except to threaten him with a day of retribution, until upon the interposition of De Soto he finally agreed to settle his quarrel with him. In this village the expedition remained for several days as the situation was pleasant, the Indians friendly, and the supi)lies of food and of skins for elothing were very grateful to the members of the expedition who were worn and ragged from their long wanderings. It was De Soto's wish to find out about the country he had not visited. To this end he made many inquiries of the Indians concern- ing the country to the north and its inhabit- ants. He was told that much of the country was' barren, but hearing that salt was to be obtained in that direction, he sent de Silvera and Morena in search of it. The Spaniards had suffered much on the expedition from lack of salt. Many of those who had died on the way declared that they thought the.y would recover if only they could have meat with plenty of salt on it. At the end of eleven days, the men who had been detached re- turned, almost starved, having passed through a thinly settled and sterile country where they found little to eat except roots and wild plums. The.v brought with them, however, supplies of salt and some copper. It is ciuite probable that these men had reached Saline creek for the Indians of later, and doubtless of that time also, were accustomed to secure salt from the banks of that stream. From this place the expedition returned to the village of the Casquins where they re- mained for four or five days, and then De Soto determined to travel to the westward. He was led to this decision by the reports of a country called Quigate. On leaving the vil- lage of the Casquins he travelled one da.v's march and then rested at another village of the Casquins near a river, which in all prob- ability was Little river. Crossing this river, he found himself upon another ridge, that which extends through Dunklin county, and after travelling for about four days he reached Quigate. His march carried him through a fruitful country where large fields of maize were to be seen and all the evidences of a large Indian population. Quigate, the largest town visited by the Spaniards since leaving Florida, was perhaps at the lower end of the ridge over which they had been travel- ing, near the line which separates Dunklin county from Arkansas. From here De Soto turned to the northwest to reach a town called Caligoa, where he expected, frorii what he had been told, he would find stores of gold and other precious metals. One difference is noted by the chroniclers in the march that was made to Caligoa and that is that no paths were found, but that the expedition made its way through the unljroken wilderness. We may infer from this, what we should conclude otherwise, that the former marchings had fol- lowed the trails or traces made by the In- dians. The country from Quiquate to Cali- goa is described as marshy and swampy with morasses and lagoons, and then as hilly and mountainous. Garcilla-sso says they marched forty leagues before reaching Caligoa. They found this town to be on a small river. Here the.v remained for some days. They were told that to north a distance of six days' journey the country was level, devoid of trees, and covered with ])uffalo. We ma.v only .speculate as to the location of Caligoa. If we are cor- rect in conjecturing Quiguate to have been on lower end of the ridge running through Dunk- lin county, and the march of De Soto was toward the north and west, he probably fol- lowed the ridge to the low hills in the neigh- borhood of Campbell, crossed these into the